Gasp! I love paper piecing, and rainbows of color! I immediately envisioned myself packing my bags in preparation for a flight to LA. However. My financial controller advised that the expense would have to come out of my fabric budget for the next 12 months ... or however long it takes. Really?

The very next day I was checking out the latest at Craftsy and as fate would have it I stumbled across the NY Beauty Circle of Flying Geese Patternready for immediate download. The pattern includes the foundation papers required to paper-piece this block. A knowledge of the paper piecing technique is a pre-requisite.

Paper piecing is a great way to tackle quilt blocks with challenging shapes. It is accurate and methodical, but also a little fiddly. In piecing this block I made sure to oversize my fabric pieces, reduced stitch length and have left my papers in until the four quarters were joined together.

50 comments:

I love this block! The only thing is, I wish that extra seam wasn't there where the four quadrants join together. Do you think the NY Beauty inner section could be redone so that white was next to the seam on one side, and a colored spike next to the seam on the other? Is it possible to paper piece the whole thing as one large unit to eliminate that seam? The colors and fabrics you chose are so beautiful.

You wouldn't be able to piece the whole thing as a single unit, but you could piece the main (rainbow) ring as a single unit by taping the pattern right at the stitching line. And when you construct the block, you would sew the inner black and white circle to the rainbow ring before adding it to the background fabric.

It looks beautiful! You always make the most amazing fabric choices. I am amazed that you pieced the curves so beautifully with the papers in. I always take them out first. I'm going to make some updates to the pattern soon (I just figured out how to add seam allowances in photoshop) and more detailed instructions.Thanks for the shout out and you really must make it to LA SOMEday!

Can you tell me what paper you use for the foundation? I know /printer paper is convenient and readily available, however a bit messy to pull off, and I thought you might have an alternative. Thank you in anticipation.

My word, Red, at your vision and projects! I need to buckle a seatbelt to read your blog sometimes. My last finished project was a mini quilt in flying geese circles on a background of gray kona -- it is wonderful and was inspired by the image of the circle on your banner. Here is a link should you want to see it -- http://jumpin-in-crafts.blogspot.com/2013/03/circles-of-geese-mini-quilt-circles-of.html

This project is altogether on another planet of amazing. Kudos to you for spurring us along to best quilting -- blessings, Jill

WOW! Rita, you continue to top yourself. This is just beautiful. Thanks for the push I needed to finally attempt paper piecing. Just wondering: Have you previously done a blog entry about the making of the flying geese in the upper right of your banner?